Beyond the Early Grades: The State of Adolescent Literacy in Massachusetts
Despite the state’s top national ranking, about half of middle and high schoolers lack the support needed to read at grade level.
EdTrust in Massachusetts released a new report, Beyond the Early Grades: The State of Adolescent Literacy in Massachusetts, which finds that nearly 150,000 students in grades six through eight and 10 are not meeting grade-level expectations in English language arts (ELA), with especially troubling disparities for Black and Latino students, multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and students from low-income backgrounds.
In recent years, Massachusetts has invested significantly in early literacy through initiatives such as Literacy Launch and the recent passage of the Right to Read Law, which establishes statewide requirements for evidence-based literacy instruction and curriculum in grades K-3. While these efforts represent important progress, the report contends that the Commonwealth’s literacy agenda must also support schools in meeting the needs of tens of thousands of students entering middle and high school without strong foundational skills, as well as students who demonstrated reading proficiency in the early grades but now struggle as texts become more complex and literacy demands intensify.
